


Pinions

by Lokei



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-05
Updated: 2008-11-05
Packaged: 2017-10-18 21:45:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/193626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lokei/pseuds/Lokei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She’s like the wind.</p><p>Prompt: Superstitions, from the much missed <a href="http://aos-challenge.livejournal.com/profile"><br/><img/></a><br/><a href="http://aos-challenge.livejournal.com/"><br/>aos_challenge</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Pinions

The package in his hand was incredibly light—his name scrawled on the dirty paper in either a poor hand or the hand of someone wishing to disguise his penmanship.Will turned it over in his gentle grasp, long fingers surprisingly deft for someone who had spent most of his life clutching hammer and tongs, and much of his recent existence hauling sail and handling steel.He slipped off the bit of string which secured it and tucked it safely away in his coat pocket where it twined companionably with a shell and a nail and a few spare coins.He fingered the motley collection a moment, realizing with a smile that certain of Jack’s habits did seem to rub off on one, no matter how much one tried to avoid it.

When he looked at the back of the package more closely, however, he frowned.Truly, the writing was appalling, even to someone like himself who had not had the benefit of a gentleman’s education.Years ago, Elizabeth, in merry twelve-year-old prattle, had conveyed as much of her schooling as she had thought was interesting.Under her tutelage Will had developed a readable, if somewhat cramped style of his own, which she had laughingly told him was the result of his frowning so hard in concentration when writing.Perhaps she was right.Will knew himself to be intelligent, but life had not intended him for a scholar.

 _You will need it._

That was what the scribble said, Will decided, the frown lines giving way to puzzled wrinkles.Need what?And why?With a shrug, the smith-turned-pirate-turned-whoknewwhat-that-was-barely-legal-sort-of shook open the paper parcel and caught his mysterious present as it wafted out of the wrinkled wrapping.

It was a swan feather.

The frown returned as he spun the airy construction between his fingertips, feeling its edges catch the wind.

 _You will need it_.There was a memory there, attached to the smells and sounds of his early years, back in England—his mother’s voice speaking those same words to some friend of hers, a girl who worked in the pub who was getting married.A swan feather, sewn into a pillowcase was for—what was it?Luck?Children?Joy?

“Keep ‘is eyes on you and nowt else—and ‘is ‘ands too,” the gleefully cackled words filtered across oceans of time vaster than the salt waves Will had also traveled.

Fidelity.Swan feathers were meant to ensure fidelity.

Will’s eyes narrowed.He was no blushing bride, and neither, for that matter, was Elizabeth.His gaze tracked critically through his surroundings, taking in the busy docks of the Carolina town where they had landed, just far enough away fromPort Royal and its environs that they could breathe with relative ease.Their ‘scavenged’ ship was anchored in the outer harbor, and from his spot on the end of the dock he could see Elizabeth in full form, hands gesticulating emphatically and salt-caked hair blowing in the equally salt-caked breeze, no doubt leaving Gibbs and anyone else within hearing distance speechless.She had picked up a few mannerisms from Jack herself.

Will had seen that kiss she gave Jack just before the kraken took both the captain and the Pearl to the depths.He didn’t know yet what it meant, if it meant anything.Elizabeth wasn’t talking to him about anything that didn’t have to do with rations, rigging, or reaching the end of the world.Perhaps Elizabeth loved Jack.Perhaps she didn’t.That kiss would suggest she did, but Will had known Elizabeth a long time.She wouldn’t agree to marry him—assuming he asked again—unless she was certain.She was capricious, but not cruel.And there was no way he was going to cage or confine her if he wasn’t what she truly wanted.

Will looked down at the feather, thinking about all the ways Elizabeth had flown into and out of his life in the years he had known her.He twirled it slowly in his fingers and then held it up into the prevailing wind, letting the breeze snatch it away and blow it dancingly across the waves, until it vanished in the sunlight on its way to somewhere else.

“Not worried, then, young Master Turner?”Barbossa’s voice floated over Will’s shoulder and the younger man frowned without turning around.“There’s naught ye fear when ponderin’ the cruelty of the fates and the fickle nature of love?”

Will crossed his arms and looked coolly at his companion.“There’s quite enough superstition in my existence already.”

The sound of Barbossa’s cackle carried across the water, and on deck Elizabeth turned, shaded her eyes, and then waved.Will waved back and began to climb down into their boat, then locked eyes with Barbossa as he settled on his bench.“I expect to make you retract your suggestion, Barbossa.”

Barbossa scratched his head and then sighed dramatically.“Aye, and if ye can do that, I suppose I’ll have to marry the pair o’ ye, won’t I?”

Will raised an eyebrow and then smiled, putting his back to the sun and stroking on towards the ship and the outgoing tide.“I suppose you shall.”


End file.
